City of Goleta Community Wildfire Protection Plan
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COMMUNITY WILDFIRE PROTECTION PLAN Prepared for: City of Goleta Neighborhood Services and Public Safety Department 130 Cremona Drive, Suite 100 Goleta, California 93117 March 20, 2012 Prepared by: Geo Elements, LLC PO Box 955 Cedar City, Utah 84721 Community Wildfire Protection Plan Mutual Agreement Page The Community Wildfire Protection Plan developed for the City of Goleta: Was collaboratively developed. Interested parties and federal land management agencies managing land in the vicinity of the City of Goleta have been consulted. This plan identifies and prioritizes areas for hazardous fuel reduction treatments and recommends the types and methods of treatment that will protect the City of Goleta. This plan recommends measures to reduce the ignitability of structures throughout the area addressed by the plan. The following entities mutually agree with the contents of this Community Wildfire Protection Plan: ________________________________________________________ Daniel Singer City of Goleta City Manager ________________________________________________________ Michael Dyer Santa Barbara County Fire Chief ________________________________________________________ Robert Lewin San Luis Obispo Unit Chief, California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection This page intentionally left blank. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................ 11 1.1 PURPOSE OF THE PLAN ........................................................................................................................ 11 1.2 GOALS AND OBJECTIVES ...................................................................................................................... 11 1.3 POLICY AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK .......................................................................................... 12 1.3.1 Federal Level Policy ........................................................................................................................... 12 1.3.2 State Level Policy ............................................................................................................................... 13 1.3.3 County Level Policy ............................................................................................................................ 15 1.3.4 City Level Policy ................................................................................................................................. 15 1.3.5 Additional Local Level Policies ........................................................................................................... 16 1.4 CWPP PROCESS ..................................................................................................................................... 16 1.4.1 Collaborative Approach ...................................................................................................................... 17 1.4.2 Goleta CWPP Collaboration ............................................................................................................... 17 2. COMMUNITY OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................................. 19 2.1 VALUES AT RISK ..................................................................................................................................... 19 2.1.1 Life Safety and Structures .................................................................................................................. 19 2.1.2 Natural and Cultural Resources ......................................................................................................... 21 2.1.3 Economy, Commerce, and Infrastructure ........................................................................................... 22 2.1.4 Recreation and Lifestyle ...................................................................................................................... 23 2.2 LAND USE/ZONING .................................................................................................................................. 24 2.3 FIRE PROTECTION .................................................................................................................................. 25 2.3.1 Additional Fire Protection ................................................................................................................... 26 3. DEFINING GOLETA’S WILDFIRE PROBLEM ................................................................................................. 27 3.1 FIRE ECOLOGY ........................................................................................................................................ 27 3.1.1 Chaparral Ecology .............................................................................................................................. 27 3.1.2 Eucalyptus Ecology ............................................................................................................................ 28 3.1.3 Ecological Enhancement .................................................................................................................... 29 3.2 CLIMATE ................................................................................................................................................. 29 3.2.1 Climate Change ................................................................................................................................... 29 3.3 FIRE HISTORY.......................................................................................................................................... 29 3.4 GOLETA’S WILDLAND FIRE ENVIRONMENT ........................................................................................ 30 3.4.1 Fuels ................................................................................................................................................... 30 3.4.1 Fuel Characteristics ........................................................................................................................ 32 3.4.2 WEATHER .......................................................................................................................................... 34 3.4.3 TOPOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................. 35 3.4.4 FIRE BEHAVIOR CHARACTERISTICS ............................................................................................. 36 4. GOLETA: A COMMUNITY AT RISK ................................................................................................................. 37 4.1 DESIGNATION AS A COMMUNITY AT RISK .......................................................................................... 37 4.2 GOLETA’S WILDLAND URBAN INTERFACE .......................................................................................... 37 4.3 NATURAL AND CULTURAL RESOURCE CONCERNS IN THE COMMUNITY ...................................... 38 5. WILDFIRE ASSESSMENT ................................................................................................................................ 39 5.1 CALIFORNIA FIRE HAZARD SEVERITY ZONES .................................................................................... 39 5.2 HAZARD ASSESSMENT .......................................................................................................................... 39 5.2.1 FlamMap ............................................................................................................................................. 39 5.2.2 Behave Plus ........................................................................................................................................ 40 5.2.3 Fire Family Plus .................................................................................................................................. 40 5.2.4 Data Sources for Models .................................................................................................................... 40 5.2.4.1 Wildland Fuel Models .................................................................................................................. 40 5.2.4.2 Weather Data............................................................................................................................... 42 5.3 HAZARD ASSESSMENT RESULTS......................................................................................................... 42 5.4 RISK ASSESSMENT ................................................................................................................................. 43 5.5 STRUCTURE VULNERABILITY ............................................................................................................... 45 5.5.1 Potential Losses to Goleta from Wildfire ............................................................................................ 47 6. CITY OF GOLETA - ACTION PLAN .................................................................................................................. 48 6.1 COMMUNITY PREPAREDNESS .............................................................................................................. 49 6.1.1 City of Goleta Programs ..................................................................................................................... 49 6.1.1.1 Goleta City Alert..........................................................................................................................